Sci-Fi

Sandbox
Report 005:
The Echo Initiative
This report filed by
Larry Moore
Layout
Joshua Kubli
Art
Matt Jackson
Contents
One (1) Asteroid mining colony map
One (1) Medical starship map
Five (5) personnel readouts
One (1) crew member advisory table
(randomized)
Four (4) item readouts
 Mission Briefing
Captain's Log. We've received
a distress call from the medical ship
Comfort, tending an asteroid mining
colony in the vicinity. The colony went
silent twelve hours ago, and the
medical ship was dispatched to
investigate and offer aid. The mining
colony and medical ship have both
been damaged by rogue asteroids,
and we hope to evacuate both crews
before our ship is damaged as well.

Mission Notes: This large

colony serves as a base of operations
for mining activities in the asteroid belt.
An unusual number of unmarked
starships enter and leave the field, but
1. Crew Quarters: Sleep facilities for up to six lifeforms. most locals believe they're just rogue
2. Space Vehicle Bay: Two shuttle pods for landing and external repair operations. miners with illegal claims. After all, the
asteroid field is rich in strange
3. Medical Bay: Facilities for treating injuries and disease, along with two intensive minerals.
treatment beds.
4. Quarantine Bay: Living quarters with a separate life support system. Diameter: 2933.93 kilometers (0.23%
Earth)
5. Engineering Bay: Power and life support controls for the ship.
Gravity: 0.65g (9.81 m/s2).
6. Engine: Propulsion and energy generation systems.
Composition: Iron, silicon, water ice,
7. Bridge: Sensor and navigational controls, cluttered with data disks. novanium, ts'arnvaa crystals.
 System Datafile
Crew Member Advisories

Space Travel Hazards

Asteroid 32817.This airless, frozen asteroid contains a Strange energy field drains the ship's engines and the crew's
neurological energy. They must bypass the ship's burned-out
variety of valuable minerals, good for mining. 01-04
relays and leave the field before they're too clumsy and
0°Kelvin. forgetful to be able to, and all die!
Surface 0.65 Gs.
-273° Celsius. Gravity
Temperature Inconvenient A rare mineral interferes with ships' hyperspace wake.
All Species Hazard
05-21 Several small asteroids are pulled along behind the ship at
65% Silicon, 12% Iron, an accelerating rate. If the ship stops, they'll be destroyed!
None. Chemical
Atmosphere 10% Radioactives.
All Species Hazard Composition
Good for Industry The crew encounters a disabled, drifting warship left over
22-30 from the Succession Wars. Its onboard AI and weapons are
0% Surface. Native
Surface Water None. still active, though, and attack any ship that blunders nearby.
All Species Hazard Lifeforms
A damaged cargo ship floats through the asteroid field.
145 hours/day, 1510
Satellites None. Day/Year Scanners say that it has valuable goods aboard, but they
local days/year. 31-90
don't report the psychotic killer with the personal cloaking
Currently under medical shield that wiped out the rest of the crew …
Mining colony, with
Settlements Hazards quarantine.
pressirized mine tunnels.
All Species Hazard The crew finds out that the fuel they purchased at their last
stop was poor quality, and their engines sputter out. Adrift,
91-00
they have to hope they'll be rescued by helpful passersby,
Asteroid 32914.Similar to other asteroids in the system, but and not plundered by pirates …
contains a hidden government research project.
Surface 0°Kelvin.
0.65 Gs.
Temperature
-273° Celsius. Gravity
Inconvenient Asteroid Hazards
All Species Hazard
The mining colony's damaged life support systems fail in this
None. Chemical
88% Silicon, 9% Iron, 01-32
Atmosphere 13% Other. section. The crew must scramble to space suits, or die!
All Species Hazard Composition
Inconvenient The colony's power relays erupt near a crew member in a
33-48
0% Surface. Native shower of sparks, and they risk being burned.
Surface Water None.
All Species Hazard Lifeforms The Echo Initiative AI begins hacking the mining colony's AI,
49-67
145 hours/day, 1510 and wiping its records and programming.
Satellites None. Day/Year
local days/year.
The crew notice that systems that when they double-check
Government research
Experiencing unusual systems they repair on the broken colony … they're still
Settlements Hazards temporal disturbances. 68-00
facility. broken. Almost like parts of the colony are moving back in
All Species Hazard time!
 Mission Complications
Not On My Watch Mad Scientist Revolt
Brad Chason secretly developed RGE-1, a
The medical ship's captain, Emma Wendt has a The miners, normally content with their lot,
virus, for Sci-tech Industries. It dulls the
long running record of no on-the-job injuries, and suddenly revolt. They aren't that particular about
subject's wits and heightens their response
she wants to keep it that way. who they lash out against.
time and energy levels.
The Twists The Twists The Twists
Brad dons a biosuit and walks around the Indentured servants are being held her beyond
The only way for Capt. Wendt to keep her record
colony injecting targets with the virus, planting their contract period. They are angry and have
clean is to destroy the evidence of her failure. And
a tracker on them so he can chart its planned to hijack the next ship to dock, the
by evidence we mean the ship.
effectiveness. medical ship!
The captain initiates lockdown procedures due to Different species seem to react differently to The RGE-1 virus contaminates the mining colony
the containment release, but a mistake has the virus. The insectoid Algolians are driven air supply, causing the workers to become violent
initiated the self-destruct instead. Perhaps it was into a violent frenzy. It's a good thing only 35% and possessive. Can the PCs find a cure before
one of her sleeper programs? of the crew is Algolian ... the chaos consumes everyone?
A government exchange program placed
The captain follows the PCs around making sure Brad is contaminated with the virus and
prisoners in the mining colony. Bubba, a leader
they are doing things by the book. This tends to metamorphoses into a freakish monstrosity
among the prisoners, sees the disaster as a good
make the PCs nervous, making it hard to do well. while the PCs are dealing with the hull breach.
time to escape.

Time Warp Glow of Health Long-forgotten

war
The Echo Initiative is a secret Galactic Chason tinkered with another virus, HLT-3, that The time-warp effect from the Echo Initiative
Confederation project working on time amplifies one's natural immunity and rate of spreads. Time moves backward and the asteroids
manipulation. It was based in a lab buried deep in healing. He wasn't planning on testing it yet, cluster together into the planet they were 10,000
the asteroid, but now it's been exposed. but he gets the vials mixed up. years ago.
The Twists The Twists The Twists
Time moves at different rates, faster as one The planet was destroyed in a civil war between
Anyone with cybernetic implants suddenly finds
moves closer to the lab. GMs can have fun with two powerful, warring alien factions. Outside the
their body rejecting these implants. This has
this, consider having the PCs in a slower ring than safety of the medical ship, the mining station, and
deadly consequences for some crew members.
their enemies! the lab, a war rages!
Pockets of warped time form in the local area, out The two alien factions want the dangerous
The HLT-3 virus doesn't cure the RGE-1 virus.
to 1 AU surrounding the mining colony. Time may technology of the Echo Initiative. Both sides
Instead, it amplifies the effects, making the
speed up, slow down, remain normal, or move capture and interrogate the PCs, to see what they
victims tougher, angrier, faster, … and hungrier.
forward or back 10, 20, or 30 years. know about temporal technology.
A 1 AU bubble forms around the asteroid and Subjects of genetic therapy find their altered Prof. Lombardy theorizes that the reconstituted
warps time ahead (or behind). Perhaps the bubble DNA re-written by HLT-3. Some PCs might not planet exists in an unstable time bubble, and
travels back in time to when this system was even be aware of childhood genetic treatments wants to collapse it. Is it right to allow beings to
formed (lots of debris floating around). they benefited from. die that died long ago in the original timeline?
 Personnel Datafiles
Bubba, the
Brad Chason Capt. Emma Prof. Myrtle
Brad Chason Prisoner from
(Transformed) Wendt Lombardy
Alcassar
Description: Brad is in his Description: When Brad Description: Emma is a Description: Bubba has a Description: The Professor
mid-thirties, an intelligent Chason is accidentally proud member of the Grand large jaw, and prefers to wear sold everything to move to
young man with a full career infected by the RGE-1 virus, Space Fleet and has recently long denim shirts and a ball New Cape along with 22
in front of him. He has a lazy he mutates into a horrific volunteered her services to cap with the logo of the others. When he found that
eye and is never found monstrosity. He experiences the Medical Guild of Pulsar Ball team "the mighty New Cape was a horrific slave
without his lab coat and an unusually severe reaction Banthania. She's obsessed Durgs." He smiles when an colony, he and his followers
DuPhant’s Best pocket to the virus, and he becomes with maintaining a perfect idea pops in his head, signed a contract with the
protector. Chason and Capt. a monstrosity! career record, far beyond anyone that knows him mining colony to work off their
Wendt have a chilly working what's rational. Capt. Wendt typically knows this is a bad debt. He's a tall thin human
relationship; he feels she doesn't care for Brad thing for whoever gets in the with white hair and beard,
stupidly ignores many Chason, but grudgingly way of his plans. wearing a dingy ascot. The tip
opportunities for personal admits he's fastidious about of the cloth secures his late
gain. attention to his duties. wife's ring. She died in a
mining accident 13 months
ago.

Stats: Stats: Stats: Stats: Stats:

Body (Average) Body (Excellent) Body (Excellent) Body (Excellent) Body (Poor)
Speed (Average) Speed (Good) Speed (Average) Speed (Good) Speed (Poor)
Mind (Excellent) Mind (Poor) Mind (Good) Mind (Poor) Mind (Excellent)
Will (Good) Will (Poor) Will (Excellent) Will (Poor) Will (Excellent)

Skills: Very knowledgeable in Skills: Demolish! This Skills: Emma is a superb Skills: Bubba is a decent Skills: The Professor is a
the area of modern biology version of Brad is almost pilot and navigator. She is mechanical tech given the skilled surgeon and a scholar
and a bit about space insensitive to pain, and seeks handy with a computer and right tools. He lacks most of ancient human history. He
sciences. He can make his only to murder and wreak has been known to slip other skills including a spell has several book titles to his
way around any computer havoc. sleeper code into ships check. name including his most
system but lacks systems; she likes to be in famous on ancient earth
technical/mechanical skills. It control. history, “Back to the Garden of
says a lot about him that the Eden.” He fancies himself a
only reason he passed his leader but has lost respect of
Bioscience Ethics class at this followers since the
Mars University is because he contract period has been up
cheated on his final for six months and he’s still a
assignment. simple worker.
 item Datafiles (001)

Personality Scanner Lifeboat Time Warp Dialer Bio-Suit

Description: This high-tech scanner Description: These self-piloting Description: This device is used to Description: This suit completely
reads brain waves from the target craft can hold up to 10 persons and scan the surrounding time to covers the wearer from head to toe
and predicts behavioral patterns. The has enough air, food and water for determine where you are in the protecting them from harmful
scanner must read the target for a three days. objective timeline. It’s part of the environments.
few minutes before making a Echo Initiative, and can be found in
prediction. the lab.

Stats: Stats: Stats: Stats:

Mind-Reading (Excellent) Maneuver (Poor) Structure (Average) Structure (Good)
Structure (Average) STL Drive (Average)
FTL Drive (N/A)
Structure (Good)

Notes: If the Scanner's Mind- Notes: Once passengers are Notes: The Time Warp Dialer is Notes: The Bio-Suit comes
Reading rolls higher than the secured, tapping the controls obviously an item of incredibly high complete with a 10 hour oxygen
subject's Will, then the device gets a launches the craft, a scanner will technology. pack. It will not work in the vacuum of
clear reading. detect the nearest habitable area space, but is designed to
and autopilot to the destination. It is accommodate most species.
impossible to override the controls.
 item Datafiles (002)

Virus RGE-1 Virus HLT-3 Echo Initiative

Injector Injector Time Warp Generator
Description: Brad Chason developed the RGE-1 Description: Chason's untested masterpiece, the Description: This device was designed as a
virus for Sci-tech Industries. The corporation HLT-3 virus amplifies the body's normal healing secret weapon for the Grand Space Fleet. The
wanted to be able to turn ordinary soldiers into properties. Chason isn't really ready for a field test idea was that a temporal energy shield could
fast, obedience super-soldiers, and Chason feels of HLT-3, but with all the excitement, he gets the protect a colony from incoming attacks, but the
it's time for a field test. injectors mixed up. underlying principles are so poorly understood,
the device is too dangerous to use.

Stats: Stats: Stats:

Virulence (Excellent) Virulence (Good) Structure (Poor)
Structure (Average) Structure (Average)

Notes: RGE-1 works a little too well. Its subjects Notes: The HLT-3 virus can heal most injuries in a Notes: The Time Warp Generator can move an
are little more than zombies, fast-moving and few minutes, but it has very serious side effects. area backward or forward in time, but the
aggressive, but too dull-witted to be obedient or Severely contraindicated for anyone with consequences are almost always disastrous. The
helpful. cybernetic implants or genetic therapies. The Galactic Confederation will stop at nothing to
subject suffers a ravenous appetite and high fever destroy the device once word of its existence gets
for a few hours while the virus takes effect, and out.
usually drops into a coma-like state for several
hours afterward. Since the virus simply amplifies
normal metabolic activity, it doesn't help after cell
necrosis sets in; it can't resurrect the dead.